Denver Cutthroats owner John Hayes put together a nice charity event Saturday at the Denver Coliseum, in honor of his father and others in the battle with cancer.

With the help of the Avalanche and Cutthroats coach Derek Armstrong, a longtime Los Angeles Kings forward, the celebrity skate was quite the star-studded event. It was the Harlem Globetrotters on ice, with plenty of back-door, roofed goals by a team comprised of former NHLers and other pros.

Hockey Hall of Famer Joe Sakic headlined things, scoring off the opening faceoff, after winning the draw back to defenseman Adam Foote, and Super Joe looked like Super Joe throughout the entertaining game against 18 or so local police and firemen, Mr. Hayes and yours truly (the guy “posing” with former Avs enforcer Scott Parker).

It was the “All-Stars” against “Heroes,” dubbed “Pink in the Rink” with proceeds going to Step Up For Cancer. Other former Avalanche players donating their time and skills were Stephane Yelle, Eric Lacroix, Rick Berry and Ken Klee. The All-Stars included Armstrong and fellow former pros Jeff Sirkka, Bob House and Phil Crowe. Needless to say, it was a huge, huge thrill to share the ice with these guys.

Everyone’s special-made jersey was auctioned off during the ensuing Cutthroats’ game, and at the end of the first period Sakic’s sweater was already fetching $700. (Shout out to the person who bought mine. I was going to buy it, but chose not to after seeing it was already bid on. Very cool.)

Not sure how much money was raised, but you can bet it was substantial. I’ll add that figure later.

Special thanks to the Avalanche, particularly Eric Lacroix, VP for hockey operations. The Avs embraced the event, and everything fell into place after their commitment. Good to see Denver’s two professional hockey teams work together on things like this.